Vultee XP-54 Swoose Goose and Curtiss XP-55 Ascender Profile

As a freelance writer, I always appreciate requests and suggestions for article topics from our loyal readers, especially when those readers are themselves knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the subject areas I write about. 

So, today I thank Rob Harvan of Commemorative Air Force (CAF) for suggesting our current dual topic: the Vultee XP-54 “Swoose Goose” (yes, a wordplay on the far more famous Spruce Goose) and the Curtis XP-55 Ascender. 

Along with the Northrop XP-56 Black Bullet, the Swoose Goose and the Ascender resulted from United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) proposal R-40C issued on November 27, 1939, for aircraft with improved performance, armament, and pilot visibility over existing fighters; the proposal specifically allowed for unconventional aircraft designs. 

Let’s now give these two obscure “X-planes” their moment in the spotlight. 

Vultee XP-54 and Curtiss XP-55 Initial History and Specifications  

The XP-54 and XP-55 both made their maiden flights in 1943, with the Swoose Goose first taking wing on January 15 of that year, and the Ascender following suit on July 19 of the same year. The former was built by Vultee Aircraft, Inc. – best known for the BT-13 Valiant whilst the latter was built by the Curtiss-Wright Corporation, best known for the P-40 fighter immortalized by the Flying Tigers in China.  

The XP-54 had the following tech specs and vital stats: 

• Crew: One

• Fuselage Length: Fifty-four feet nine inches (16.69 meters) 

• Wingspan: fifty-three feet ten inches (16.41 meters) 

• Height: fourteen feet six inches (4.42 meters) 

• Empty weight: 15,262 lb (6,923 kg) 

• Max takeoff weight: 19,337 lb (8,771 kg) 

• Powerplant: One Lycoming XH-2470-1 liquid-cooled piston engine, 2,300 hp (1,715 kW) 

• Max Airspeed: 381 mph (613 km/h, 331 km) at 28,500 feet (8,700 meters) 

• Range: 500 miles (805 km, 430 nmi) 

• Service ceiling: 37,000 feet (11,300 meters) 

• Armament: 

• Two 37 mm T-12/T-13 cannon with 100 rounds of ammunition 

• Two .50 caliber (12.7 mm) M2 (“Ma Deuce”) Browning machine guns with 580 rounds of ammunition 

The Swoose Goose also had a rather whacky method for cockpit entry: the pilot would activate an electrically-powered lift that would drop the cockpit floor, complete with a seat, down to where the pilot could climb in. Once the pilot was strapped in, the lift was reactivated once more to bring the pilot up and into the cockpit. 

Two XP-54 airframes were built.  

As for the XP-55’s stats: 

• Crew: One

• Fuselage Length: Twenty-nine feet seven inches (9.02 meters) 

• Wingspan: Forty feet seven inches (12.37 meters) 

• Height: Ten feet (3.05 meters) 

• Empty weight: 6,354 lb (2,882 kg) 

• Max takeoff weight: 7,930 lb (3,597 kg) 

• Powerplant: One Allison V-1710-95 liquid-cooled V12 engine, 1,275 hp (951 kW) 

• Max airspeed: 390 mph (630 km/h, 340 km) at 19,300 feet (5,900 m) 

• Range: 635 mi (1,022 km, 552 nmi) 

• Combat range: 850 km (530 mi, 460 nmi) with one AM39 Exocet missile on one wing pylon and one drop tank on the opposite pylon, hi-lo-hi profile 

• Service ceiling: 34,600 feet (10,500 meters) 

• Armament: Four .50 caliber machine guns mounted in the nose 

The Ascender was the first Curtiss fighter aircraft to use tricycle landing gear, a concept first put into operational use by the Bell P-39 Airacobra fighter plane. A total of three XP-55 airframes were built.  

Experimental Performance  

That first XP-54 lasted thirty minutes and was considered a relative success. However, after a move to Wright Field on October 28, 1943, the Lycoming engine failed irreparably, and this engine failure, along with the heavy operating weight and complicated internal workings, doomed the Swoose Goose project.  

As for the XP-55, the aircraft turned out to have a fatal flaw, that being stall characteristics, and to make matters worse, the design quirks prevented any warning of the impending stalls: 

I) Serial No. 42-78845 crashed during a vertical dive on November 15, 1943; luckily, the pilot managed to bail out.  

II) Serial No. 2-78847 crashed during an airshow at Wright Field, Ohio on May 27, 1945; sadly, this time the pilot did not survive. 

III) Serial No. 42-78846, meanwhile, had a slightly longer and luckier service life, used for official performance tests, and flew a total of twenty-seven hours. However, this wasn’t enough to save the project. 

Where Are They Now? 

Sadly, none of the two Swoose Geese (or would be “Sweese Geese” in plural?) survive today, as they were thoughtlessly dismantled and sold for scrap. At least we can be thankful that one of the Ascenders was preserved for posterity: Serial No. 42-78846 is currently at the Flight Innovation Center of the Air Zoo in Kalamazoo, Michigan, on extended loan from the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum (NASM) 

Christian D. Orr is a Senior Defense Editor for National Security Journal (NSJ). He is a former Air Force Security Forces officer, Federal law enforcement officer, and private military contractor (with assignments worked in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kosovo, Japan, Germany, and the Pentagon). Chris holds a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Southern California (USC) and an M.A. in Intelligence Studies (concentration in Terrorism Studies) from American Military University (AMU). He has also been published in The Daily Torch , The Journal of Intelligence and Cyber Security, and Simple Flying. Last but not least, he is a Companion of the Order of the Naval Order of the United States (NOUS). If you’d like to pick his brain further, you can oftentimes find him at the Old Virginia Tobacco Company (OVTC) lounge in Manassas, Virginia, partaking of fine stogies and good quality human camaraderie.

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons.